Chinese Oil Imports Hit All-Time Monthly High In March; Q1 Imports Up 15% YOY [View All]

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SHANGHAI — China's oil imports surged to a record 17.3 million tons in March, the government reported Friday, as the country nearly unseated Japan as the world's second-largest buyer of foreign crude oil. China imported an average of just over 4 million barrels a day, according to calculations based on data from China's Customs Administration.

China imports nearly half of the oil it uses. The United States, which imports about 10 million barrels of oil a day, remains by far the biggest consumer. Japan imported about 4.4 million barrels of oil a day in February, based on data from the country's Natural Resources and Energy Agency.

China's oil imports in the first quarter of this year rose 15 per cent from a year earlier, to 45.5 million tons, the customs data showed. The value of those imports jumped 91 per cent, year-on-year, to $30-billion (U.S.), as the price of crude oil surged, the customs office said.

An unexpected decline in U.S. crude and gasoline inventories drove oil prices to a trading record of $112.21 a barrel Wednesday. Crude futures held well above $100 a barrel for most of March as a weak dollar prompted investors to buy hard commodities such as oil and gold as a hedge against inflation.


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